Posted on 11/01/2006 3:14:06 AM PST by InfantryMarine
''You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.'' -- Sen. John Kerry
WASHINGTON (Nov. 1) - The White House and Sen. John Kerry traded their harshest accusations since the 2004 presidential race on Tuesday, with President George W. Bush accusing the Democrat of troop-bashing and Kerry calling the president's men hacks who are "willing to lie."
The war of words, tough even for this hard-fought campaign season, came after Kerry told a group of students on Monday that those unable to navigate the U.S. education system "get stuck in Iraq."
The two parties are searching for any edge amid indications Democrats could take back the House of Representatives and possibly win control of the Senate from Bush's Republican party in next week's congressional elections. Though neither Bush nor Kerry is on any ballot, the bitterness with which they fought each other as 2004 rivals for the presidency spilled over as both campaign hard for their parties in a race shaped in large measure by public doubts about the Iraq war.
The Kerry Flap Will a "botched joke" by their onetime presidential candidate hurt the Dems? Or are Republicans just changing the subject?·
White House press secretary Tony Snow was asked about Kerry's comment at his regular briefing with reporters, and had clearly come prepared with a lengthy attack. He said the quote "fits a pattern" of negative remarks about U.S. soldiers from the decorated Vietnam veteran and suggested that whether Democratic candidates - particularly those running on their military service backgrounds - agree with their 2004 standard-bearer should be a campaign litmus test.
Bush, campaigning later in Georgia, said Kerry's statement was "insulting and it is shameful."
"The members of the United States military are plenty smart, and they are plenty brave, and the senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology," Bush said during an appearance for a former GOP congressman, Mac Collins, who is trying to oust Democratic Rep. Jim Marshall. There were boos at the mention of Kerry's name and cheers at Bush's call for an apology.
Kerry, who is considering another run for the White House in 2008, angrily fired back.
His statement called Republicans "assorted right-wing nut jobs."
And at a hastily arranged news conference in Seattle, Kerry said: "I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy."
Kerry said the comment in question was "a botched joke about the president and the president's people, not about the troops ... and they know that's what I was talking about."
You Asked: How can the administration say that things are getting better in Iraq?
It came during a campaign rally for California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides, who is running against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Kerry opened his speech at Pasadena City College with several one-liners, saying at one point that Bush had lived in Texas but now "lives in a state of denial."
He then said: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
That, Kerry said, was meant as a reference to Bush, not troops. Kerry said it is the president who owes U.S. soldiers an apology - for "a Katrina foreign policy" that misled the country into war in Iraq, failed to adequately study and plan for the aftermath, has not properly equipped troops and has expanded the terrorist threat.
Kerry called the White House attack "a classic textbook Republican campaign tactic" that reveals Republicans' "willingness to reduce anything in America to raw politics."
"I'm sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy, who won't take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes," he said. "It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who've never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did."
Unsubstantiated allegations about Kerry's Vietnam War heroism from a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth figured prominently in the 2004 Kerry-Bush race. Even Kerry has blamed his slow and uncertain response to the group's claims for helping to doom his White House chances, and Democrats viewed the Tuesday fracas as a test of that lesson.
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"Enough is enough. We're not going to stand for this," Kerry said. "We are going to stay in their face with the truth."
Other Republicans, sensing opportunity for their side, piled on throughout the day with their own demands for an apology from Kerry.
Sen. John McCain, like Kerry a decorated Vietnam veteran and a potential 2008 presidential rival, said while campaigning for Republican candidates that "the suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq is an insult to every soldier serving in combat today."
Added House Speaker Dennis Hastert, struggling to keep his party in control of Congress: "Our soldiers risk their lives in the face of grave dangers on the battlefield, and no one who chooses to courageously and selflessly defend our country can be considered 'uneducated.' "
Separately, the White House issued President Bush's Veterans' Day proclamation praising those who have served in the armed forces - a week and a half before the Nov. 11 holiday.
"I wish some one would explain to me how his comments related directly to the President."
They don't. Only the more tortured logic could get someone to that conclusion. Kerry's academic record is worse than is Bush's. President Bush went on to get a MBA from Harvard, so it would be completely illogical for him to make such a comment in reference to President Bush. Additionally, President Bush's personal economic success came through his own efforts, while John Kerry married his money.
I do not reply to spin.
| A deliberate insult | 57% |
| A botched joke | 34% |
| I'm not sure | 9% |
| Total Votes: 92,879 | |
| Note on Poll Results | |
W kicked ass yesterday in Georgia. I love when he is pissed!
QFE. Every real Vietnam combat vet in Infantry and Marine units depises the lies that Kerry told.
Carolyn
They also believe that Chappaquiddick was taken out of context and misconstrued.
How do you view Senator Kerry's remark?
A deliberate insult 57%
A botched joke 34%
I'm not sure 9%
Total Votes: 101,499
bump
same # I got, but forgot to copy before exiting aol as quickly as I could.
How do you view Senator Kerry's remark?
A deliberate insult 57%
A botched joke 34%
I'm not sure 9%
Total Votes: 108,416
Note on Poll Results
"I'm sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy, who won't take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes."
"It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who've never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did."
What he means:
"I'm sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy for as long as I want them to, but instead, take real action, who won't take responsibility for their own mistakes."
"It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks aren't hypocrites like the guys from the VVAW in the 70's who've who had never worn the uniform of our country are but were willing to lie about those who did."
This is a very strange poll - When I voted there were just over 65,000 total votes with the following results:
56% Deliberate Insult
35% Botched Joke
9% Undecided
When I last checked it (about 4 minutes later), total votes were at 66,846 but the percentages were completely unchanged. I did see a note that said, "Poll results are not reflected in real time", but I would expect the percentages to change according to the votes. Am I confused?
A deliberate insult 58%
A botched joke 34%
I'm not sure 9%
Total Votes: 140,111
Done and passed on...
What ARE you talking about? I don't believe I have replied to or pinged you. Perhaps you are mistaking me for someone else?
I see the problem now. I made a misread, have already aplogized to the sensible person who pointed it out and now you jump on me.
Well, read my many posts before you jump, okay?
I'm sorry I thought the poll numbers were the reverse of what they are. That's what caused the mistake, not any intent to spin.
I think he was intending to slam Pres. Bush as stuck in Iraq because he wasn't very bright. However it's not what he said, and he is just too arrogant and egotistical to say, "I didn't intend to insult the troops, and I'm sorry".
If this is an apology- I accept.
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